The present invention relates to anchors for adjacent attachment of boards, such as deck boards, fence boards, flooring, panels, siding, planks and the like, to provide advantageous hiding of an anchor in a gap between boards while also aligning a fastener through an aperture in the anchor to penetrate and secure the board to a joist or other underlying structure.
Various anchoring systems for securing adjacent boards, such as decking planks, have been attempted in the prior art. As an example, U.S. Pub. No. 2005/0257473, which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a key hole-shaped anchor with a fastener aperture for partially penetrating the plank for attachment to a joist. While such publication discloses anchors and plank grooves with shapes intended to hide the anchor (and fastener) between adjacent planks, such prior art only appreciates aligning fastener through the anchor with the fastener partially engaging the plank. Specifically, such prior art fastener is intended to pass through the prior art anchor and partially penetrate a plank while also partially penetrating a joist to which the plank is being attached.